Shift
by MoonMeiQi
Summary: Levi has been bombarded with insanely realistic dreams, following the life of a beautiful girl named (F/N) who lives without worry in a world where titans don't exist. (F/N)'s life had been lacking excitement. The only way she can escape this boredom is visiting the local arcade and spending all day playing video games. The two meet in a way that goes beyond any vivid dream.
1. Chapter 1: A Shift In You & I

SHIFT  
Includes Mild Language. 

Very Important Authors Note:

 _First:_ This story takes inspiration from Descartes' dream argument! It's 10000% OKAY if you know absolutely nothing about the dream argument! The dream argument is only important towards the beginning of the story. I tried my absolute hardest to explain it at the beginning of the story without it being overbearing or turning into a philosophy lesson. Also, _I DID NOT follow the dream argument word for word! It's _a fictional story so I changed it a bit so I could connect the universes better. I also made the reader misunderstand the dream theory so it would be more realistic. And if you don't understand what's going on _please_ ask so I can change it to make more sense.

 _Second:_ This is a story going on in two different universes, the AOT universe, and a modern universe.

 _Third:_ If anything doesn't make sense, is spelled incorrectly, or is grammatically incorrect please let me know. I wrote this very fast and only reread it twice so their will probably be mistakes.

I also posted on Wattpad.

Thank you and enjoy ❤️

* * *

"Have you ever thought that everything you believed to be reality was just a dream? For example, right now! Even though this situation is more of a nightmare than a pleasant dream, it is possible that you could be dreaming! Isn't that exciting! Come on get excited!" A passionate professor exclaims from the front of the classroom with a wide smile and a gleam of pure love showed in her eyes for her subject. Unfortunately, this statement was met with blank stares from the students who wished they could actually be sleeping. The professor internally prays every class that at least one person is listening, and thankfully that one person is you.

Even though you would rather be in bed sleeping than sitting in a drab classroom with zombie-like students, the class was proving to be quite interesting. When you signed up for this philosophy class in the fall, you expected to be a quick boring class and thankfully, it wasn't. So far, at least. You felt bad for the poor professor, she was obviously very smart but lacked the audience to showcase her skill.

"This is useless, I can obviously tell when I'm awake and when I'm dreaming." A male student in the front of the class spoke up with an obvious dislike for the teacher's ideas, despite it being the first class.

"AHA! You _think_ you can tell the difference between when you are dreaming and awake, but can you really?" The professor exclaims, the excitement in her tone frightening some of your fellow classmates. "How many of you have had a dream...that felt so _real_ that you truly without a doubt felt like you were awake?" Several of the students started to raise their hands in the air and started to actually pay attention to the professor.

You were also in the bunch that raised their hands. Of course, you've had dreams that felt real! How many times have you slept through your alarm, dreaming that you were already dressed and out the door! Those extremely realistic dreams where you truly believe that you had left this place and entered a world where you were successful was one of your favorite things about dreaming. The worst part of the dreams was when you would wake up and realize it was all a dream. Was it possible that these dreams could be something else?

"Well, how do you tell if these 'dreams' are a sleeping experience or a wakeful experience? How do you trust your senses when some of your dreams feel so real? For example, Descartes' brings up in The Dream Argument: 'Anything that I can experience while I am awake, I can experience while I am asleep and dreaming.', _therefore_ there is no experience that you can _only_ have while you are awake!" The whole class looks in shock at the professor who is practically foaming at the mouth with all the attention she is finally getting. "Premise 4 states, 'So, the experience I am having right now could be a dream experience for all I know.'. So, the answer to that is that _EVERY_ experience that happens while awake can happen in dreams, therefore, the experience of _RIGHT NOW_! How exciting is that!" You are amazed at this information but a little creeped out that the professor is practically screaming at this point.

"S-So, we never know when we are awake or sleeping?" A girl in the back raises her hand quickly while shooting the professor a confused look.

"And that's premise 5! Have you taken this class before?" She jokes before going back into her lecture, "Well, the response to that is that every experience while awake is equally able to happen in a dream. Like I discussed at the beginning of the class when I was talking about premise 3 and 4 if you were _listening_ , even if you had real a wakeful experience you could not tell!"

So, these experiences you thought you lived through really could just be a dream? You were extremely interested in what the professor was saying now. Maybe there could even be a way to just dream forever...

The huge smile on the professor's face was suddenly wiped away once she heard the zipping of book bags and she snapped her head up to see that the class was officially over.

"Hold on, hold on! Tonight look at premises five, six and seven for homework! Tomorrow we will find out if The Dream Argument is true or false!" She shouted out to the class before they began practically sprinting out of the classroom.

You slowly gathered your things into your book bag and started to think about The Dream Argument. Everything that you've ever experienced could be a dream. You were a little skeptical that it could be true, but you were hooked on the fictitious idea that you could possibly wake up from the life you were living now.

 _'Could this whole existence be a dream?'_ You thought to yourself as you strolled out of the classroom, _"So if this terrible life is a dream, could I wake up and be somewhere where I was actually happy? Somewhere with people I could talk to comfortably and a place where the weather was always nice. Somewhere where bad feelings don't exist and I can always be truly happy."_ These thoughts paused as you pulled out an umbrella and stepped outside the building to be treated with light rain.

The small town was plagued with an obscene amount of rain, even with it being the beginning of April. A town known for its beautiful flowers and vibrant colors began to be drowned out of its beauty and color. The town had changed so much from your years as a kid, it seemed like the possibility of the town was endless but now the town had turned into a retirement spot and most of the stores and buildings started to dwindle along with the number of jobs. Because of that, your mother struggled to make ends meet to the point where she couldn't just hide it like she used to.

You started to work a part-time job in February which helped out greatly. Instead of taking your money, your mother insisted you used it on your own necessities and saved whatever was left. Even though you felt like you weren't contributing much, the difference in having one less mouth to come home and feed every day was making a decent impact. You don't eat that much, do you? Unfortunately, not having a mouth to feed meant that your mother no longer cooked meals and you two never sat at the dinner table and talked. Along with this, you were always busy with work and school and she was always busy with work, so you two stopped talking like you used to. It turned into having a roommate instead of living with your mom. You would never admit it out loud, but you missed the relationship you used to have with her.

Those thoughts stopped as you turned into the local arcade which was always packed after everyone was let out of school. Like mentioned before, the town had turned into a retirement spot so there wasn't much for young people to do anymore except do drugs or go to the Arcade House. You opted for the arcade for now.

You walked to the front desk where the old grumpy arcade owner sat with his usual upset look. The owner was truly a mystery, an old man who retired in this town and then decided to open up an arcade despite hating kids. Not a choice you would have made. He had strict rules and forced everyone to sign in and pay a four dollar entry fee.

Without speaking, you signed in and handed the old man four dollar bills. He nodded at you sharply before inserting the money into his outdated cash register. You had visited the arcade so often that the old man should know who you are by now and that you won't cause trouble.

Despite the arcade being packed, your usual spot was wide open. Of course, it was, no one wanted to play your favorite game because most of them wouldn't play the game because they thought it was too _girly_. Oh please, Sailor Moon could kick _all_ of their asses. You sat down at the colorful machine and fed quarters into the classic Sailor Moon arcade game. You took a quick glance at the clock on your phone and decided that you'll treat yourself and play all night long. Before you hit 'start' you heard a sudden roar of excitement from a bunch of students. You peeked over and saw a large group of students all huddled around a new game placed in the arcade. You heard the arcade was going to put new games in but you didn't know what kind of games they were going to put in.

"YOU ARE DOING TERRIBLE!" One of the student's screamed at what you were assuming was his friend. You leaned back and forth trying to see the screen or at least the name of the game but it was too crowded to see much. You managed to only read one word, 'Attack' and assumed that it was probably just a gory fighting game or something.

"I play better with Eren, LET ME SWITCH TO EREN!"

"No! I kicked your ass fair and square, _two times_! You're just a loser!"

You watched the confrontation only for a few more moments before deciding that it was no longer interesting. You started to play your own game and blocked their annoying argument out.

 _"It can't be_ that _fun."_ You thought as you rolled your eyes at their immaturity. Though, perhaps you should check out the game before you left...

* * *

He woke up in his sleeping position with a start, realizing that he had fallen asleep on his desk once again. He groaned and rubbed his eyes tiredly before standing up to stretch. He glanced at the clock and groaned once again, he had too much shit he had to get done today. He would have had a decent day if those little brats hadn't given him a headache along with that _unbearable_ woman screaming in his ear all day. And then those brats in his dream wouldn't stop screaming either. He paused his thoughts to think about his dream that he was wishing he would just forget.

He started having these shitty little dreams about a month ago and they didn't make any sense. These dreams would consist of him watching the life of this girl as she struggled to do _basic_ daily tasks.

 _"She wouldn't last a day in the Survey Corps."_ He scoffed to himself. Though the girl herself was completely beautiful she lacked passion and an ounce of determination. It was sad to watch honestly. But the one thing he found more interesting than the girl was something that he discovered these dreams in.

There were no titans.

No one in the place she lived in even mentioned the existence of titans and the girl never mentioned it either. It was almost like they never existed in the first place.

Though the girl's life was mundane, it was completely fascinating to see humans walk around without any threat of titans.

Through his dreams, he started to learn more about this world, including its complicated and weird traditions. Half the shit he'd seen people worrying about was honestly ridiculous, who cares if someone is wearing the same dress as you? You all wear uniforms everyday anyways. Not only was that ridiculous, but these people have advanced father than he could imagine with their technology. Their exotic modes of transport and the obscene amount of computers everywhere was almost too much for him to comprehend. Luckily, he had learned the basics of how things worked by watching the girl but he still had no clue how everything worked.

Even though learning about their technology was inherently useless to him in his world, he learned things that actually benefited him through her classes. He learned more about math, history, literature and much more from being able to mentally sit in on this girl's insanely expensive classes. The one she learned from today especially interested him. This Dream Argument really scared the shit out of him but also interested him. It was ironic of course for his dreams to be talking about dreams. To him, it was easy to understand why he's been having this odd dreams.

Fighting Titans for all these years drove him insane.

He assumed for himself that his mind had made up a 'safe place' where titans don't exist, his problems are basic and apparently, he's a woman? He thought multiple times about talking to Hanji about his dreams but there was no possible situation he could think up where shitty glasses would actually believe anything he would say.

"I've really lost my shit now." He mumbled to himself.

His mind drifted back to the lecture where the professor spouted unbelievable information about dreams being real or whatever. That shit professor reminded him of shitty glasses, therefore probably just as crazy as she is. These shitty ideas were something just some wack job came up with because he had nothing better to do, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Like titans. Even, though titans don't exist in that place...

That place in his dreams couldn't be real anyway, the dreams started to collapse on itself recently. Not only by talking about dreams while he was dreaming but at the end of his most recent dream, those bratty kids mentioned Eren. He reassured himself that it was once again, his mind trying to create a 'safe place' inside of his dreams.

"There's no way this could all be a dream." He stated to himself and then rubbed his face once more before attending to his menial tasks for the day. He heard a knock on his door and rudely asked them what the hell they wanted.

"Captain Levi! You're needed for a meeting with the Commander!"

He couldn't worry about this shit today, he'd just have to find out if this dream theory was true during tomorrow's lecture. Maybe he could find a way to stop these dreams within his dreams. Maybe his dreams were trying to show him a way out.

* * *

Recap:

Reader learns about the dream theory, misunderstands, believes that her life could really be a dream. She is unsatisfied with the way things are going in her life and clutches onto the idea that she could leave this life and start another within the dream.

Reader goes to the arcade, one of the only fun places to go nowadays, and plays one of her favorite arcade games. A crowd is gathered around the new arcade game but Reader doesn't have the opportunity to see what the new game is.

Levi wakes up from his sleep. All of Levi's recent dreams have been watching Reader's life in detail. Basically, Reader's life is Levi's dreams. Levi thinks that he's gone crazy from fighting titans for so long, so he thinks his mind created a safe place for him while he is sleeping to cope with the tragedies. Because Readers world is a world without Titans.

Levi is able to learn things inside of these dreams and believes that the dreams are starting to collapse on themselves because of the mentioning of Eren. He believes that these dreams are trying to show him a way out of them.

Next Time: There will be Levi & Reader interaction and they both learn the 'truth' about dreams.

Thank you,


	2. Chapter 2: Lucid Dreaming

_AN:_

Thank you for continuing to read this book, I deeply appreciate it!

Also, thank you to everyone who read and commented on the last chapter!

This chapter wraps up the dream argument, so you won't have to worry about it anymore haha. There will be mentions of it, but not to the extent of these two chapters. Also if you don't understand the parts of the dream argument, please let me know so I can rewrite it so it is easier to understand.

Thank you!

* * *

Disappointment.

That was the only word that could describe how you felt.

Your philosophy class had ended a few hours ago but the lesson you learned today still lingered in your mind. Your professor truly disappointed you today.

"(F/N)! There's a customer!" Your boss called. You sighed and scurried to the front register before your boss could scold you.

"How can I help you, sir?"

You had been working at Gonzolo's Flower Shop for at least a year now. You couldn't complain about the work and the owner was relatively nice. You were grateful for the job opportunity, it helped you take your mind off of things especially at a time like this.

"What are the prices of your corsages?"

You couldn't describe how utterly excited you were this morning when you walked into your Philosophy class. How amazing would it be to for your reality to actually be dreams? And vice versa?

Well, unfortunately, things never seemed to go your way.

"The corsages we have in the display case range from around $20.00 to $30.00. Are you looking for a specific kind of corsage today?"

Your enthusiastic Philosophy teacher had truly disappointed you by revealing to the whole class that the Dream Argument was proven to be _false_.

 _False._

The argument was deemed false because of the existence of Lucid Dreaming. Lucid Dreamers had the ability to control what happens in their dream, therefore destroying the idea that whatever happens in dreams can also happen in reality. You can't control what happens in reality like the way Lucid Dreamers can control their dreams.

The professor also mentioned other reasons why the Dream Argument was false with concepts like being able to die inside of your dreams and wake up, but honestly, you stopped listening after she revealed it to be false.

The small hope you had that your mundane life could all be a dream was _washed away_. You were truly _stuck_ in this life.

You forced yourself to stop thinking about the depressing news and focused on helping your current customer. You decided that tonight you _deserved_ to go to the arcade tonight and have some fun. It was the only thing you could look forward to after this morning. You had to work late tonight, but who cares if you go to the arcade at the dead hours of the night?

You _deserved_ it.

You _needed_ it.

* * *

There was no answer. Just when he thought that his dreams were about to be normal, they trick him once again.

The Dream Argument is false?

So, what was the point of his dreams even _showing_ this shit to him? Was it to tell him that there is no way out? Well, there was _one_ interesting comment made in his dream that could possibly be the answer out of these dreams.

Lucid Dreaming.

He'd never heard of the strange concept before but it did amaze him. There were people out there that could control their dreams? Maybe that was what his dreams were telling him? That he could become a Lucid Dreamer and take control of these dreams. He'd definitely have to look into it.

For now, it was late as hell and he had to at least try to get some sleep. Maybe he could try to control his dreams this time.

* * *

 ** _YOU LOSE._**

"That's bullshit.." You mumbled to yourself. You had lost _again_ for the 4th time that night.

You should have picked Sailor Venus instead. And you were off your game because of the stupid Philosophy class. And it's too dark inside of the arcade...

You continued to make excuses for yourself before you heard a familiar _'ding'_ come from your phone.

"Come home by 12:30."

A quick and to the point text message sent from your mother. You sighed and looked at the clock on your phone and saw that it was 11:30. You couldn't be here that long anyway since the arcade closed at 12:00. You also didn't want to play the Sailor Moon game any longer, so you decided to just leave early. You packed up your stuff and shuffled through the rows of arcade games. One, in particular, caught your eye before you could leave.

The new game.

You hadn't had the chance to check it out yet because of the popularity of the game at the arcade but tonight there was only you and one other guy occupied the arcade. And he seemed more interested in Mortal Kombat than this game. You walked back towards the game and checked it out in all its glory.

It read "Attack On Titan" in big bold letters across the front. It has several characters littered around the outside in some funny looking outfits. One character, in particular, received all of your attention. It seemed like someone had put a sticker on the characters face so you couldn't really tell what he looked like. Comparing him to the other characters, he wore the same outfit but he had a white bib tied around his neck?

"Why does he have a bib on? Is he supposed to be a guy who drools a lot?" You thought out loud until you leaned forward to get a closer look. You then realized that it wasn't a bib, but a cravat. You blushed a little and looked over at the guy in the arcade, hoping he didn't hear you sounding like an idiot.

You reached forward to touch the sticker on his face and gently tried to pull it off without damaging the paint. Unfortunately, you ended up tearing his whole face off with the sticker. Just as you ripped the sticker off, the game brightly lit up and the theme song rang out loud throughout the arcade.

The light was blinding and the song was deafening, as you looked around for the other guy in the arcade to find him still immersed in the game. Almost as if he couldn't hear anything. The music got louder and louder as it turned into a loud drone-like screech.

The intensity pushed you back into the chair as you frantically pushed every button on the game, trying to make the noise stop.

"Stop! How do I stop it? STOP!" You shouted over the noise and resorted to covering your hands over your ears.

You looked up into the game's bright screen as a hand suddenly grabbed your forearm and started to pull you towards it. Your eyes bugged out of your head and you let out the loudest screams you could.

"HELP ME! PLEASE STOP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" You screamed out to the guy in the arcade as he continued to ignore you. You swatted and pulled the hand grabbing you, but it had an iron grip. Suddenly, another hand shot out of the screen and grabbed onto your other arm.

"NO, STOP-" Your screams were cut off as you were quickly pulled into the white computer screen.

The game's music stopped and the bright light dimmed down. The arcade looked as if the situation never happened and as if your presence there had never existed. The only thing left that could hint that you had been there being four silver quarters fallen on the floor.

* * *

Levi had just finished taking his morning shower and started to prepare himself for another long day. Fully dressed in his uniform he made his way to his closet to get out his jacket.

Even though he had two tons of paperwork to fill out today, his mind wandered to the dream he had last night. More like the dream he _didn't_ have last night. Absolutely nothing, not even a small dream. Maybe his bizarre dreams were finally gone? It gave him a sense of relief but a hint of sadness arose. He enjoyed watching the life the girl lived. It almost gave him a sense of security that she could live freely without the threat of titans. He was relieved that the dreams were gone because he believed that the dreams were a result of him losing his mind. That was the only reassuring fact though.

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a rustling coming from his closet. He clicked his tongue and marched over to the doors of the closet.

"Shitty Glasses, get the fuck out of my closet, _now_!"He hissed and ripped open the closet doors. To his surprise, it turned out to be a different woman than he assumed.

She tumbled to the ground in front of him and quickly snapped her head up at him. Her beautiful eyes staring up at him with just as much confusion as his.

There is no way this could be happening. There's no way this girl could possibly _exist_? How did she even get here? Is _he_ dreaming? She shrunk backward from the hard glare he was giving her. His intent was not to scare her but, shit, she probably scared him more!

There was a long moment of silence between the two before he finally decided to speak.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded, squatting down to her level. Unfortunately, he was only met with the confused look on her face. "I'm talking to you, brat!" He snapped.

She leaned back, obviously offended at the insult he gave. Another moment of silence filled the air as she took a chance to take in her new surroundings. She turned her head back towards him, looking deeply into his eyes before she asked him a question that made him rethink his sanity.

"Am I dreaming? Or have I woken up?"

* * *

 _AN:_ There it is! Finally, the two met!

If there is any confusion on the way I explained why the dream argument is false, please, let me know. I explained it very fast in a small number of words so it wouldn't take up too much of the story.

 **Recap:** Reader & Levi find out the dream argument is false by Lucid Dreaming/Dreamers. Reader hates that she can't wake up & becomes super dramatic and depressed about the whole situation. She decides to spend the whole night at the arcade to "Treat herself" despite working a late shift.

Reader goes to the arcade at night when only one other person is there. She decides to play the new arcade game which turns out to be AOT (surprise surprise) and while looking at the game she notices that Levi's character has a sticker on his face. But as she goes to peel it off, she peels his face off with it, which triggers the game to turn on. Instead of simply turning on like a regular game the game starts to make super loud noises & flashes a bright light from its screen. Then hands come out the screen & begin to pull Reader into the game. Reader calls for help but the guy in the arcade cannot hear her. Reader is pulled into AOT.

Levi did not have a dream with Reader in it last night so he assumes the dreams have stopped & that he regained his sanity. While getting dressed he hears noises in his closet and out pops Reader. Levi & Reader met for the first time.

Reader thinks she's "dreaming"/ woken up from her real life into a different life ( _Basically The Matrix, that's the best way to explain it lol_ ).

 **Next Time:** Levi & Reader's first interaction. How is Levi going to cope with seeing his dream girl in the flesh? How is he going to make her go back into his dreams?

Thank you for reading.


End file.
